council advice

[jon small]

just been to help my neighbour and thought I'd share with the forum, she's painting walls outside of her wet room / bathroom and got a belt off the paint brush, puts brush down and without thinking touches wall - another zap! so she phones the council helpline explains situation to call centre monkey - gets passed to duty head of maintenance explains again and is advised " get someone else to touch wall in case your imagining it or stick a piece of gaffer tape ( wet painted wall ffs ) if your worried, will try to get someone out next week sometime as a 50 mile round trip and not really a priority"


bear in mind single mother 4 young kids just out of abusive relationship and wall by wet room, kitchen and only entrance / exit to property.


went round to look and found a nail through unearthed metal conduit containing switch line drop that had several layers of paint over protecting it till she sanded the wall and applied paint.


I spoke to council to explain situation and was told they might get a spark out tonight or might wait for a job order next week, 10 mins later they phone me back to ask if I thought she'd put the nail in to hang a picture ( between 2 architraves 3.5 inches apart so would be very small picture ) obviously hoping to offload blame and make it chargeable, I said definitely an old nail and explained that I considered the advice given earlier to be very ill thought out and potentially lethal guys attitude seemed to be - oh well it's only a council tenant / single mother ( lowlife scum ) when I asked if they'd authorise me to repair as I'm a fully qualified spark answer was no but suddenly he decided he could get a spark out immediately so will see what happens - makes me so angry some salaried bell end can be so cavalier with other peoples lives b@574*%5

 

[jon small]

apologies in advance to mods if this is out of order

meggerman - who the ************do you think you are calling me a ************ on crutches wannabe spark but cant". you don't know me or my situation, (1) I'm not a sponger I still work for a living even on crutches , (2) been a fully qualified apprentice trained spark for over 25 years not a Electrical Trainee , (3) the guy was a bit out of his depth and going to chop out wall, cut away conduit and tape up the cable - do you consider that acceptable ? and he asked for advice from me which I was happy to give in a non condescending way - it's called professional courtesy, google it if you don't understand and (4) if you said that to my face even on crutches ************

 

[MDJ]

Lmao haha, fight fight fight

 

[jon small]

no just defending myself from a lazy half assed judgement from someone who doesn't know me or my situation and wasn't there , I'm a pacifist really right up to the point I have the red mist blackout

 

[KAS1]

I'd laugh if the council appointed spark is reading this lol

 

[GLENNSPARK]

no just defending myself from a lazy half assed judgement from someone who doesn't know me or my situation and wasn't there , I'm a pacifist really right up to the point I have the red mist blackout

dont know jon but you might have scared him off....lol...

 

[trev]

Id be thinking

Relevant words.

 

[Badged01]

Relevant words.

Come on Trev he said if he was the council spark ..... why would he be thinking !

 

[trev]

Come on Trev he said if he was the council spark ..... why would he be thinking !

Now Hey! I've been a subbt to a couple of councils and I think (therefore I am ( Reneé Descartes)) . You're right though, a lot of them aren't equipped to.

 

[JD6400]

Jon , I do not think it was meant at you in person !?
I have to admit that when I did out of hours for a large southern association , it would be somewhat annoying turning up in the small hours to find some smart arse trying to tell you how to do your job .
And although his approach to fixing the problem may of seemed daft , you have to remember that he is only being paid to make it safe for another in hours department to fix it in day light , and will at the very least not get paid for his extra effort and at the worst get the boot for none sanctioned work !
I know this ludicrous fact first hand and is why I only covered the contract for 9 months in the end , because it did not sit well with me to just bodge a repair and would not do so . Don't get me wrong it was phenomenal money whilst I did it , but it did not feel like honest money !
I mean no disrespect in my post and think it was good on you to hang around for her to make sure she did not get had over .

 

[MDJ]

Jon , I do not think it was meant at you in person !?
.

Are you sure lol

 

[Meggerman]

Come on guys, Jon is using a bit of poetic license here to have a go at the council contractor system. He has contradicted himself already stating he asked council if they could give him the job but they wouldn't and in later post says what a shame he could not do job as he is on crutches and enjoying the free drugs!! Also, who are we to believe the council sent to this job, a handyman perhaps? Must have been cause there is no way even the most mediocre of sparks would be bamboozled with this basic job and turn perplexed to the armchair spark waving his sticks at him for a solution.

 

[jon small]

sorry for the rant guys have had a bad day and was right grumpy, do not take too well to being accused of being a lazy, half assed wannabe scrounger by someone with no knowledge of me, personal attacks like that bring out my dark side
I understand the way council work is handled as the firm I worked a few years back did a lots of council / housing association work and I was on 24 hour call for electrical and plumbing emergencies and was always happy to listen to the advice of other professionals and still am as sometimes another pair of eyes and brain will come up with something easier / better as a solution to a problem.
that said would still never put speed /expedience ahead of safety - too much of that going on these days from those lacking training / experience / concience

 

[Meggerman]

tick.... tick....... BOOM!!!!

 

[Marvo]

Honestly, if I was the council appointed spark, you would irritate the **** out of me suggesting what I should do. Id be thinking *********** on crutches wannabe spark but cant".

apologies in advance to mods if this is out of order

meggerman - who the ******do you think you are calling me a *********on crutches wannabe spark but cant". you don't know me or my situation, (1) I'm not a sponger I still work for a living even on crutches , (2) been a fully qualified apprentice trained spark for over 25 years not a Electrical Trainee , (3) the guy was a bit out of his depth and going to chop out wall, cut away conduit and tape up the cable - do you consider that acceptable ? and he asked for advice from me which I was happy to give in a non condescending way - it's called professional courtesy, google it if you don't understand and ************

Any more and you'll both be on a weeks vacation from the forum.

 

[jon small]

appology offered to marvo and the forum, I went off on one and will calm down , can't stand people who make judgements and personal attacks without knowing facts.
this armchair electrician ( the free drugs reference was meant to be tongue in cheek ) would have got my apprentice to do the part of job that I couldn't if the council had authorised the repair but instead they sent someone who was young and inexperienced ( cheap ) and didn't really want to be out at 10 pm on a saturday night and looking for a quick easy solution.
Meggerman I withdraw the bit about the teeth have had a cr*p day and it was an ill judged reaction on my part but hope you will lay off the personal attacks as I work as hard as anyone and am always willing to talk with other members of the trade exchanging ideas and knowledge both ways courteously without demeaning anyone. I have made no personal comments about you as I don't know you please extend the same courtesy to me as you don't know me and let us go forward in a polite, professional way.